1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for filling hydrogen into a hydrogen storage tank in an automobile having a hydrogen engine or a fuel cell mounted thereon.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When hydrogen is filled into an automobile hydrogen storage tank having a metal hydride in a hydrogen station. The hydrogen station has a hydrogen supply tank having a metal hydride with hydrogen absorbed therein. The metal hydride is heated with exothermic reaction of hydrogen absorption in the hydrogen storage tank. In a prior art process, cooling water is circulated into the hydrogen storage tank to cool the metal hydride, thereby providing an increase in the amount of hydrogen absorbed (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 7-108909).
With the prior art process, however, the heated metal hydride is merely cooled and for this reason, the effective utilization of the generated quantity of heat is not controlled, which is not preferred for energy saving demand.